Civil Air Patrol Members Prepare for Hurricane Response

Article Written By Capt David Bennett, Assistant PIO during Hurricane Isaias Response

As Hurricane Isaias bore down on coastal South Carolina, Civil Air Patrol units from across the state were gearing up to spring into action once the storm moves on. CAP aircrews, with support from ground teams and incident command staff, prepared to survey damage left behind by the storm and report the results to local, state and federal officials.

South Carolina Wing Commander Col. Lee Safley asked members to check their equipment and be prepared to start flying as early as Tuesday morning following the storm's arrival. In the calm before the storm, CAP volunteers made sure aircraft and ground equipment were ready for their assigned tasks.

Heavy rain and strong winds were expected to be the major threats from this storm, along with a significant storm surge which could have arrived close to high tide, according to meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Columbia. This combination of factors can result in severe flooding in low-lying coastal areas as well as along coastal and inland waterways. In addition, drainage from heavy rains in neighboring North Carolina can be expected to cause rivers and streams in the Pee Dee and other nearby areas to overflow, as in similar storms in recent years.

The 511 senior members and 359 cadets in the South Carolina Wing of Civil Air Patrol are well trained for such emergencies.

CAP’s South Carolina Wing has been assigned eight highly maneuverable, single-engine Cessna aircraft, which can be deployed anywhere in the state, crewed by volunteers who are specially trained in low-level aerial photographic operations. Once images are captured, crews can land at the nearest available airfield to upload them to remote servers for analysis. In especially urgent cases, image data can be transmitted in near real time.

To keep tabs on multiple airborne sorties simultaneously, the South Carolina CAP maintains a communications center at its headquarters in Columbia as well as a number of remote stations and relay repeaters strategically situated throughout the state.

Civil Air Patrol, a federally chartered, all-volunteer organization, is the longtime auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and as such is a valued member of its Total Force. In its auxiliary role, CAP operates a fleet of 560 single-engine aircraft and 1,550 small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS). CAP performs about 90% of inland search and rescue missions in the continental U.S. as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and is credited by the AFRCC with saving an average of 82 lives annually. CAP’s 66,000 members also perform homeland security, disaster relief and drug interdiction missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Operating as a nonprofit organization, CAP also plays a leading role in STEM/aerospace education, and its members serve as mentors to 28,000 young people participating in CAP’s Cadet Programs. Visit www.CAP.News or www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com for more information.